Filmmaker James Cameron has joined the board of directors of Stability AI, an artificial intelligence company that allows users to create images, as well as audio and visual content, via text and image prompts.
Cameron, in a statement on Tuesday, said joining the London-based company’s board was fitting, because he’s spent his career “seeking out emerging technologies that push the boundaries of what’s possible, all in the service of telling incredible stories.”
“I was at the forefront of CGI over three decades ago, and I’ve stayed on the cutting edge since. Now, the intersection of generative AI and CGI image creation is the next wave,” Cameron continued. “The convergence of these two totally different engines of creation will unlock new ways for artists to tell stories in ways we could have never imagined. Stability AI is poised to lead this transformation.”
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Stability AI’s open-source models are widely used by AI creators. Stable Diffusion, its best known model, is a text-to-image model that has been downloaded 150 million times since it was launched two years ago.
For those unfamiliar with it, that means you can type a brief description of an image or video you’d like to see, and Stable Diffusion will churn it out within a few seconds. TheWrap, for example, asked Stability AI’s model to create an image of James Cameron winning Wimbledon, which you can see below:
Stability AI also offers a video model that creates brief clips (2 to 5 seconds long) based on text or images. The company also offers a model that creates 3D objects.
Cameron joins Stability AI after an already busy year for the company. CEO Prem Akkaraju, the former head of visual effects company Weta Digital, joined in June, right as the company was closing a new $80 million round of funding. (Stability AI had raised $101 million in 2022.)
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Sean Parker, the Napster co-founder and ex-Facebook president, were two of the main investors behind Stability AI’s most recent cash infusion. Parker also now serves as the board’s executive chairman.
Akkaraju, in a statement on Tuesday, said Cameron’s addition to the board was a “monumental statement” for both the company and the AI industry in general.
“James Cameron lives in the future and waits for the rest of us to catch up,” Akkaraju said. “Stability AI’s mission is to transform visual media for the next century by giving creators a full stack AI pipeline to bring their ideas to life. We have an unmatched advantage to achieve this goal with a technological and creative visionary like James at the highest levels of our company.”
The Cameron-Stability AI partnership shouldn’t come as a total surprise to anyone who has followed the director. Cameron is, of course, well-known for leveraging computer-generated imagery in blockbuster flicks like “Terminator 2,” “Titanic” and “Avatar.”
And in more recent years, Cameron has shown a keen interest in AI — both in terms of how it’ll influence the arts, as well as humanity.
Last year, Cameron said he had life-or-death concerns about the US falling behind its adversaries when it comes to AI.
“I warned you guys in 1984, and you didn’t listen,” Cameron said. “I think the weaponization of AI is the biggest danger. I think that we will get into the equivalent of a nuclear arms race with AI, and if we don’t build it, the other guys are for sure going to build it, and so then it’ll escalate.”
On a lighter note, Cameron said he wasn’t as worried about AI being used to replace writers and other Hollywood creators — something that became a major issue during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
“It’s never an issue of who wrote it, it’s a question of, is it a good story?” Cameron said in 2023.
“I just don’t personally believe that a disembodied mind that’s just regurgitating what other embodied minds have said… I don’t believe that [is] something that’s going to move an audience.”
He may not believe AI can write good scripts, but his new partnership suggests he’s bullish on the technology helping filmmakers make better movies.
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